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STRONY

Vionnet - part III

Madeleine Vionnet worked for several Parisian couture houses before establishing her own in 1912. She closed her fashion house 2 years later and reopened it in 1918. In 1923, with the help of investor Theophile Bader (the owner of Galeries Lafayette), Vionnet opened a new, larger atelier, called "Temple of Fashion". A grande dame of 20th century couture was not only exceptional designer, but also a very smart businesswoman. At one point in time she had 1200 people working for her. Her fashion house was the first French couture house to open a subsidiary in New York in 1925. The same year British Vogue described Madeleine Vionnet as "perhaps the greatest geometrician among all French couturiers". "The architect among dressmakers" paid a great attention to copyright laws that protected designers, she founded the first antipiracy organization. Since 1922 Vionnet's dresses had special order number, copy of her signature and facsimile of her fingerprint. Artist Ernesto Michahelles (known as Thayaht) was responsible for brand's logo and jewelry line.

Madeleine Vionnet was the first one to create a one-seam dress (Cristobal Balenciaga, who described her as his master and Azzedine Alaia, followed in her footsteps).

"This was a designer who toiled endlessly to liberate women from buttons, zips, corsetry and show-off embellishment. Hers was the language of extreme sophistication, where decorative elements such as rose motifs and fringes, drapes and twists formed the structure of her much-coveted dresses rather than being mere appendages". (Harriet Quick)

Vionnet did not sketch or draw and instead draped fabric on 80 cm mannequin. "The final aim of our metier is to create dresses that make a harmonious body and a pleasing silhouette. It's about making beauty. That's what it's all about", designer once said.

Vionnet will go down in fashion history for being one of the first to adapt haute couture to ready-to-wear and introducing the bias cut. Even though many sources describe her as the inventor of the bias cut, it is not really true. But she was definitely the one, who made it popular. Vionnet would often cut the fabric diagonally in order to give the gowns stretchability and create figure-hugging silhouette, she made popular dresses that could be put over the head. Her understanding of fabric draping was excellent. Being a master of cut and proportion, she would create exquisitely cut feminine dresses that exuded easy glamour: "I am more of a sculptor than a painter-more sensitive to form than color".

A former costume designer, Betty Kirke, devoted 30 years to examine Vionnet's techniques and recreate patterns of several dresses. Kirke's fascination with Madeleine Vionnet started when she was working on an exhibition, where some of Vionnet's pieces were displayed: "Upon examining more of her work, I saw clothing construction completely different from that of the other designers in the exhibition, all members of the French haute couture, and different from anything I had experienced as a garment designer and manufacturer. In each piece I discovered another way in which a garment could be put together, whether it was the shape of the pattern parts, the manipulation of the fabric for decoration and shaping, or the complete adherence to the principles of dressmaking. Everything was thought through to the smallest detail. Everything was precise". Kirke wrote a great book about Vionnet.

My name is Magdalena. I'm a personal shopper, stylist and fashion blogger. I love classics and elegance, timeless forms and cutting. My biggest inspiration are Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jackie Onassis . I'm a huge fan of fifties in fashion. My blog is a place where you can find my inspirations, beautiful places which I visited and all these things which I loved . This is a small window of my lifestyle.